By CHRISTINA NG (@ChristinaNg27)Dec. 30, 2012Two missing Georgia boys have been found safe in Texas and their father has been taken into police custody.

Moments after pleading for her boys' return on television, the boys' mother Theresa Nash received a phone call from a citizen in Texas who said he was with her sons.

"I was in complete disbelief," Nash told ABC Atlanta affiliate WSB-TV as she was boarding a plane to pick up her sons. "He immediately put the phone to Ben and Henry and I talked to them. They were very, very shaken up."

Police in Austin, Texas, were notified when someone recognized the boys and their father at a motel after seeing them on TV.

"They were playing with a Nerf ball, went back inside, they were with Daddy and they came back out and somebody said, 'Put your hands up,' and everybody put their hands up," Nash said.

The boys' father Daniel Cleary was arrested without incident, police said.

"We don't know why he chose Austin," Austin Police Cpl. Wuthipong Tantaksinanuki told WSB-TV. "I know that after he was taken into custody, we did recover a handgun -- a pistol -- and a large sum of money."

Daniel Cleary, who will be extradited to Georgia, faces a charge of interstate interference with custody, a felony, and could face other charges, McGee said.

Benjamin and Henry Cleary had been missing since Wednesday from the greater Atlanta area.

Benjamin, 9, and Henry, 7, had plans to leave with their father, Daniel Cleary, on an overnight trip to Chattanooga, Tenn., on Dec. 22. When they failed to return as scheduled on Dec. 26, their mother, Theresa Nash, who does not live with the boys' father, went to his house to check on them, only to find the phone disconnected and the house empty.

An Amber Alert was issued for the boys.

"There is a court order for them to contact me every day," Nash told ABCNews.com on Friday. "When I hadn't heard from them, and their father's phone was turned off, I went to their father's house to see if they were there. The house was cleared out as if they had moved."

Nash called Cleary "unstable," and said he had only been using cash since the boys went missing. Police said they had not found any charges on his credit card.

The three were spotted Friday at a Walmart in Jackson, Tenn., McGee said.

The boys were found on Henry's eighth birthday and were expected to be reunited with their mother today.

"They've been begging for an Xbox 360 for Christmas, and Santa brought them one so they need to come home because it's waiting," Nash said on Friday.

A prayer vigil that was scheduled for today at 2 p.m. in Georgia's Suwanee Town Center Park will be still be held for prayers of thanks.

Posted: Dec 29, 2012 6:40 PM CSTUpdated: Dec 30, 2012 5:32 PM CSTBy MYFOXATLANTA STAFFTheresa Nash reunites with her two sons, 9-year-old Ben and 7-year-old Henry. (Courtesy: Theresa Nash)Henry, 7, and Ben, 9, were found safe Saturday in Austin, Texas after their father was pulled over by police.Mug shot of Daniel Cleary after being booked into the Williamson County Jail near Austin, Texas on Saturday.

Police say Daniel Cleary, 46, was arrested in Austin, Texas on Saturday.Photos of Cleary and his two sons at a Walmart in Tennessee.

ROSWELL, Ga. -Police say a tip has led to the arrest of Daniel Cleary and the safe recovery of his two sons who were the subject of a nationwide child abduction alert since Thursday afternoon.

Police say that an alert motel guest recognized Cleary from national news reports. Austin police arrived at the Crossland Economy Studios on Hymeadow Drive just after 5 p.m. local time and took Cleary into custody without incident.

They have impounded Cleary's vehicle and trailer. They say he had a gun on him at the time of his arrest. Police plan to search the vehicle, trailer and motel room.

A spokesperson for the Austin Police Department during a press conference Saturday evening says that Cleary faces charges of interfering with child custody both in Georgia and Federal courts. He is currently awaiting extradition in the Williamson County Jail.

The mother of the two children, Theresa Nash, spoke with FOX 5 Atlanta shortly before boarding a flight to Texas. She says that her two sons, 9-year-old Ben and 7-year-old Henry, were outside the motel playing with Nerf guns when the police arrived. They were checked out by officials and appeared unharmed.

Nash says they were "battling each other on their iPads and planning Henry's birthday party" the last time she talked to them. She has talked to them several times since they were found and said they were in good spirits. She expects to be in Austin early Sunday morning, but says they might stay Sunday in Austin.

Roswell Police Department spokesperson Lt. James H. McGee tells FOX 5 News that the guest at the motel in Austin who spotted them was able to find out more information on the abduction through posts on various social media sites like the Facebook page set up to help find the two boys. They then called the front desk to report it.

Nash reported her sons missing after Cleary picked the boys up on December 19 but did not return them to her custody as he was supposed to do. Police say Cleary is supposed to have daily contact with Nash, but she has been unable to reach him since December 22.

A Levi's Call was issued for the boys on Thursday afternoon. At the time of the alert, Cleary and his sons were believe to be traveling in Tennessee, where the surveillance photos from the Walmart store were captured.

Friends of the family say they will continue with their planned prayer vigil at the Suwanee Town Center on Sunday afternoon, but the 2 p.m. event will now be a thanksgiving prayer. Nash says it is unclear if she and boys will be able to make the event.

Brothers Ben and Henry Cleary — ages 9 and 7 — were visiting with their father and were supposed to return home Wednesday. An Amber Alert was issued the next day.

Roswell Police Lt. James H. McGee said that the 46-year-old Cleary was taken into custody Saturday evening in Austin.

"We have recovered the kids," McGee told The Associated Press. "They were with him and they were OK."

Cleary was arrested on two outstanding warrants.

Austin police said a citizen had recognized the boys from the alert and notified police at 5:11 p.m. CDT that they were at a hotel.

Officers "observed the suspect and the two boys, and recovered the two boys and took the suspect into custody," Austin police Lt. James Nisula.

The children's mother, Theresa Nash, spoke to the boys by phone and was on the way to get them.

She had told CBS Affiliate WGCL that she was concerned because Daniel Cleary had purchased a firearm about a month ago, was under stress and drinking.

Police said they did not know if Daniel Cleary was in possession of a firearm when he was taken into custody.

McGee said authorities will arrange for Daniel Cleary's extradition to Georgia. He faces a charge of interstate interference with custody, a felony. McGee said police will discuss with prosecutors whether other charges will be brought.

Police on Friday had released surveillance footage showing the two missing boys at a Walmart in Tennessee on Dec. 23 and 24 with their father. Though initial reports were that the Walmart was in Jackson, McGee said it was in fact in Chattanooga.

Atlanta (CNN) -- A woman without hope when the weekend started, Theresa Nash snuggled with her two sons Ben and Henry in Atlanta on Sunday, overwhelmed at how quickly things had changed.

Both boys hugged their favorite stuffed animals: Henry clutched a red hippo and Ben, a teddy bear in a blue T-shirt.

"It is by the grace of God and all the people in this country and all the angels in heaven and all the people praying ..." Nash told CNN's Don Lemon, launching into a list of folks who helped bring the 10-day ordeal to an end.

The two boys were found Saturday evening in Austin, Texas -- about 950 miles west of their hometown of Roswell, an Atlanta suburb -- after a man who had been watching CNN's coverage of the case called police.

Their father Daniel Cleary, is in police custody. He will be charged with interstate interference with custody, a felony, and extradited back to Georgia, according to Roswell Police Lt. James McGee.

Nash said she didn't know why her estranged husband did not bring the boys home as planned Wednesday from a trip to Tennessee that began December 19. She told CNN affiliate WSB-TV that she had not heard from him since December 22.

Henry -- at 8 years old, the younger, but more talkative of the two bothers -- said he had no idea people were worried about them.

Cleary had told them their mother was in the hospital, Nash said.

Police first issued an Amber Alert for the suspect and his two sons on Thursday, eight days after they were last seen in Georgia.

"Suspect & children are believed to be traveling in a 2002 silver Jeep Grand Cherokee ... traveling on west side of Nashville, TN, on Interstate 40," the alert stated.

The next day, authorities released pictures of the father and his two boys taken from surveillance cameras December 23 and December 24 at a Walmart in Jackson, Tennessee.

Still, they didn't know exactly where they were.That is until Saturday evening when a person at the Crossland Austin West hotel in Texas, who had been watching CNN, recognized the Cleary brothers and called 911, said Austin police Lt. Wuthipong Tantaksinanukij.

Around the time her estranged husband was being taken into custody, Nash got a call from a man who said, "I'm sitting here with your two sons."

Asked if it was the best thing she had ever heard, "Oh my goodness," she said.

Unaware of how worried everyone was, Henry, who celebrated his birthday on Saturday, bragged about how he'd been kicking 9-year-old Ben's butt on iPad games.

There will be more games to play. Nash got an Xbox for the boys for Christmas. There was also a remote-controlled helicopter under the tree.

Following a quick trip to Texas to pick up the boys, Nash was back home Sunday, marveling in how quickly hopelessness had turned to thanksgiving.

"We will be eternally grateful every minute of our lives for the rest of our life," she said. "(I'm) more grateful than I ever could have thought possible."

By Shae RozziFULTON COUNTY, Ga. — Friends and family were stunned inside a Fulton County courtroom Monday when a man accused of running off with his kids to Texas, sparking a nationwide Amber Alert, was granted bond.

Channel 2's Shae Rozzi was in the courtroom Monday for the hearing where investigators revealed that Daniel Cleary drained his bank accounts and did other things that made it look like he'd been planning to disappear with his kids.

Cleary's defense attorney, Stanley Constant, made one point clear to the judge during the hearing: "The children were not harmed in any way."

Not physically harming his sons, Ben and Henry, may have been what led the judge to give Cleary bond.

Roswell police investigator Jennifer Bennett testified how she believed Cleary had planned to take off with the boys during a Christmas visit.

"Mr. Cleary was removing large amounts of cash through withdrawals through the bank and the ATM," Bennett said.

She said he used the cash to buy a new car without being traced, mailed his house keys to a friend in Tennessee and told him where he could find his previous car that he'd abandoned.

The investigator said Cleary told his sons their mother was sick and they wouldn't be seeing her for a while.

The boys' mother, Theresa Nash, sat quietly and listened closely.

In December, Nash made public pleas on Channel 2 Action News to get Cleary to return the boys safely.

She shared her reunion with her sons with Channel 2 Action News after they were found with their father at a Texas hotel.

"She is fearful for not only her but also for her children. This defendant has no ties to his community whatsoever. In fact, she's informed us that in fact his property has been foreclosed," said Assistant District Attorney Rewa Collier. "This defendant is definitely a flight risk."

Nash appeared to be surprised that the judge gave Cleary bond. She changed her mind about talking to Rozzi after the hearing.

Cleary is not allowed to have any communication with Nash or their sons.